I went camping with 4 friends last weekend, and in addition to drinking large quantities, we also ate large quantities. On these trips I always imagine spit roasting some fowl over specially gathered hardwood. But of course the reality is I’d have to build some sort of rotiserrie contraption, find and cut only the best wood, and keep everybody else from throwing beer cans, Christmas tree-sized pines and other things on the fire for an hour. Too much work, especially when the time is better spent drinking.
While we know how to cook on the fire, my 2-burner propane coleman stove gives us the ability to cook just about anything, ash-free. We don’t usually plan one big communal meal, but several courses, cooked by each of us. The first night in, we just want to eat without a lot of fuss, so some burgers were made whle I cut up a chicken, and put it into a pot with some beer, an onion, salt and tarragon and let it stew for an hour. At one point I did pull the pieces out and brown them in a separate pan to speed things up, but they were browning nicely in the big pot. I have to recommend a non-stick camping cook kit like my MSR kit. While you do have to be careful of the non-stick surface, these things are worth the price, since in camp it’s way too easy to burn things and usually impossible to scrub properly.
The next morning, breakfast was a combination of eggs, sausage and an almost successful biscuits and gravy attempt. Garry did a fairly decent try at it, I can’t say I would have been able to pull it off either, although cooking the gravy longer (and in a non-stick pot) may have saved it. We all ate it though.
It wasn’t too long before we prepared lunch. Garry, being the fire master, engineered a hot-coal producing blaze by arranging some wrist-sized wood parallel, which as he instructed, is the best set-up for producing long-burning coals, which is really the only type of open fire you can cook on. We put a grill over these coals and Garry roasted some Portobellos, while I prepared a cornish game hen. I butterflied it (removed the backbone) and seasoned it with some lemon, tarragon, salt and pepper. It went on the grill with some tin foil on top for about 10 minutes a side.
After a short hike, some model rocketry, and a nap, it was dinner time. There was an array of food, but I made browned some ground beef, that I marinated and froze in some canned chiplotles at home. The ground beef was mixed with some mushrooms and onions, and served on tortillas.
When tend to enjoy shopping in the unfamiliar stores, close to where we camp, but I always try to bring something frozen from home. Frozen foods like a couple of pounds of ground beef or a cornish game hen, helps keep the cooler cold as it defrosts, which usually takes a night and a day in a cooler full of ice and beer.